SERS/photothermal-based dual-modal lateral flow immunoassays for sensitive and simultaneous antigen detection of respiratory viral infections

Lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA) is one of the most common analytical platforms for point-of-care testing (POCT), which is capable of large-scale primary screening and home self-testing of infectious diseases. However, the sensitivity of conventional AuNPs-based LFIA is relatively low and more prone to false negatives. Herein, we report a novel LFIA based on gold-core-silver-shell bimetallic nanoparticles (Au4-ATP@Ag NPs) emitting Surface-enhanced Raman scatting (SERS) and Photothermal (PT) effect, named SERS/PT-based dual-modal LFIA (SERS/PT-dmLFIA), for the antigen detection of infectious diseases pathogens, which displayed an excellent performance. For influenza A virus (IAV), influenza B virus (IBV), and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) N protein detection, the limit of detections (LoD) with Raman as signal were 31.25, 93.75, and 31.25 pg mL-1 respectively, and the LoDs with temperature difference (∆T) as signal were as low as 15.63, 187.5, and 15.63 pg mL-1 respectively, which were over 4-fold more sensitive than visual-based LFIA. The proposed SERS/PT-dmLFIA was used for detecting virus antigen in pharyngeal swabs and showed ideal coincidence rate of over 95% compared to the commercialized assays. In addition, we explored the development of multiplex SERS/PT-dmLFIA that can detect IAV, IBV, and SARS-CoV-2 antigens simultaneously without cross reactivity. Overall, the SERS/PT-dmLFIA for antigen detection not only exhibits high sensitivity, accuracy and specificity, but also have characteristics of rapidity and simplicity, which holds high potential for rapid diagnosis of infectious diseases in laboratory testing, mass screening, and home self-testing. © 2023 Elsevier B.V.

Analysis on occurrence and risk factors of drug-induced liver injury in patients with novel coronavirus pneumonia.

Objective: To analyze the occurrence and risk factors of drug-induced liver injury (DILI) in patients with novel coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19). Method(s): The medical records of patients with COVID-19 who were discharged from the First Hospital of Changsha from January 15 to March 7, 2020 were collected and the patients were divided into the DILI group and the non-DILI group based on DILI diagnostic criteria. Basic information of patients in the 2 groups including gender, age, underlying diseases, classification of COVID-19, liver function test results on admission and after medication, drug use, time to DILI onset after medication, and treatments and outcomes of DILI were recorded and compared. The incidence of DILI in patients with COVID-19 was calculated, and the factors whose P<0.05 in inter-group comparison were included in the multivariate logistic regression analysis to calculate the odds ratio (OR) and95% confidence interval (CI). Result(s): A total of 203 discharged patients with COVID-19 met the inclusion criteria. Of them, 36 patients developed DILI, the incidence was 17.73%. Between the DILI group and the non-DILI group (167 patients), the differences were statistically significant in gender distribution, proportion of patients with underlying diseases such as hypertension, fatty liver, and cholelithiasis, clinical classification of COVID-19, and the kinds of drug use (P<0.05 for all), but not statistically significant in levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and total bilirubin (TBil) on admission (P>0.05 for all). The levels of ALT and AST in patients in the DILI group after medication were higher than those before medication, and the differences were statistically significant (P<0.001 for all). The median time for time to DILI onset after medication was 8 (6, 11) days and none of the patients had obvious clinical signs and symptoms. After the occurrence of DILI, 16 patients stopped the suspicious drugs and received liver-protective treatments, 6 patients only stopped the suspicious drug without additional treatments, and 14 patients received liver-protective treatments without drug withdrawal. Among the 36 patients in the DILI group, liver function were improved in 34 patients but did not returned to normal in 2 patients when they were discharged from the hospital. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that male (OR=3.939, 95%CI: 1.426-10.883, P=0.008), being severe and critical in clinical classification (OR=6.433, 95%CI: 2.411-17.162, P<0.001), fatty liver (OR=3.815, 95%CI: 1.298-11.215, P=0.015), cholelithiasis (OR=16.347, 95%CI: 1.267-210.990, P=0.032), and the kinds of drug use >8 (OR=10.181, 95%CI: 3.606-28.744, P<0.001) were the independent risk factors of DILI in patients with COVID-19. Conclusion(s): The incidence of DILI in COVID-19 patients discharged from the First Hospital of Changsha is 17.73%. Male, being severe and critical in clinical classification of COVID-19, fatty liver, cholelithiasis, and the kinds of drug use >8 are the independent risk factors for DILI patients with COVID-19.Copyright © 2020 by the Chinese Medical Association.

V-tube: The first prototype of pneumatic actuated soft nasal swab for COVID-19 screening

Swab and tube are widely used in respiratory specimen collections for current COVID-19 screening. This paper proposes the design of a novel pneumatic actuated soft nasal swab, named V-tube. The V-tube consists of three main parts: an outer tube, a cap integrated with broth container and an active film (AF) that can be squeezed out of the tube under positive air pressure to collect nasal mucus cells. The working process and material selection of this swab is studied via Finite Element Analysis (FEA). It is expected to integrate the V-tube with a dual arm mobile collaborative robot (MCR) to accomplish nucleic acid sampling instead of medical staff. Therefore, a robot-applicable pneumatic system is designed to supply appropriate force to drive the V-tube. The potential manufacturing and control issues of the V-tube are discussed for further studies. © 2022 IEEE.

Unveiling the spatial-temporal variation of urban land use efficiency of Yangtze River Economic Belt in China under carbon emission constraints

Under the constraint of carbon emission, measuring and analyzing the spatial-temporal evolution characteristics of urban land use efficiency in the Yangtze River Economic Belt is the inherent requirement of its ecological protection and sustainable development. In this paper, we calculated the urban land use efficiency of 107 cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt from 2006 to 2020 by using the SBM-Undesirable model with unexpected output, and analyzed its temporal evolution trend and spatial correlation relationship by using kernel density and spatial autocorrelation method. The results showed that: except in 2020, the urban land use efficiency was generally low due to the COVID-19 epidemic, and the urban land use efficiency in other years was mostly concentrated in the middle levels, and showed a trend of slow fluctuation and rise year by year. The difference of urban land use efficiency level between regions increased, and the dispersion degree in upstream, midstream and downstream increased with each passing year. Urban land use efficiency spatial imbalance was significant, and the urban land use efficiency level of large and medium-sized cities was generally lower than that of cities with low economic development level. The spatial correlation was weak, and the global spatial autocorrelation was basically insignificant, while the local spatial agglomeration areas were mainly distributed in the upstream and downstream regions, with a small distribution range and weak spatial interaction. The distribution areas of the standard deviation ellipse were gradually flattened, and the center of gravity as a whole shift significantly to the southwest. The research results are helpful to understand the development history and future trend of urban land use efficiency in various regions, and propose that cities should consider the impact of public crisis events in advance, reasonably control the scale of land expansion, and lead coordinated development and other reasonable suggestions when formulating land use policies. Copyright © 2023 Yang, Pu, Jiang, Gong, Tan, Wang and He.

(Im)mobility and performance of emotions: Chinese international students’ difficult journeys to home during the COVID-19 pandemic

This article examines mediated performances of emotions by Chinese international students in their transnational journeys returning to China during the COVID-19 pandemic with a focus on the role of mobile media in helping students cope with their cross-border (im)mobility and symbolic immobility. By thematically analyzing 36 self-representational videos produced by returning Chinese students on a burgeoning mobile media platform Douyin, we identify 5 overarching themes of emotional performance: fear, pride, gratitude, shame, and solidarity. We propose that mobile media has the potential to create a hybrid space that witnesses and elicits empathy for the hardship experienced by marginalized mobile groups during the global pandemic. Mobile media, by enabling simultaneous communication, amplifies the sensation of belonging in times of isolation and ambiguity and offers dialogic venues for disparate groups across geographical and socioemotional distances. Our findings suggest the vulnerability of mobile communities in the event of a global pandemic, and the affordances of mobile media in confronting and resolving such precarity. We call attention to the intersections of mobile communities and mobile media amid the global pandemic, particularlyon the experiences and performances of emotions in hybrid spaces.

Primary analysis of MUKDEN 01: A multicenter, single-arm, prospective, phase 2 study of neoadjuvant treatment with pyrotinib and letrozole plus dalpiciclib in triplepositive breast cancer

Background: Despite the use of multiple lines of targeted therapy has revolutionized treatment for HER2-positive breast cancer, these methods still have limited efficacy for triple-positive breast cancer (TPBC), which calls for persistent exploration for optimized treatment strategy. This MUKDEN-01 prospective trial aimed to evaluate the efficacy of oral, chemo-sparing neoadjuvant therapy with pyrotinib, letrozole and dalpiciclib, which also meet the need for treatment convenience under COVID-19 pandemic, for patients with TPBC. Methods: The MUKDEN 01 was an investigator-initiated, multicentre, single arm, prospective phase II trial, which was performed at twelve hospitals in China( NCT04486911). Treatment-naïve patients with stage II-III tumors that according to the AJCC 8th edition criteria were eligible. Patients were treated with each cycle of 4 weeks with oral administration of pyrotinib 320 mg, and letrozole 2.5mg once daily for 4 weeks, and dalpiciclib 125 mg once daily for three weeks, followed by one week off, for five cycles. The primary endpoint was pathological complete response (pCR) in the breast and axilla (ypT0/is ypN0). Secondary endpoints included pCR in the breast (ypT0/is). residual cancer burden (RCB) score, Ki67 index change at surgery compared with baseline, and safety. Safety was analyzed in all patients, who received treatment. The study is still ongoing, and the enrollment has been completed. Results: Between June 20, 2020 and Sep. 6, 2021, 68 patients were screened for eligibility and 61 patients were recruited into this first stage of study. After surgery, 18 (29.5%, 95% CI 18.5-42.6) out of 61 patients achieving tpCR(ypT0/is ypN0), 21 (34.4%, 95% CI 22.7-47.7) patients achieved bpCR(ypT0/is). The patients with excellent pathologic response (RCB 0-1) to the combined therapy accounted for 54.1% (33/61, 95% CI 40.9-66.9). Mean Ki67 expression was reduced from 38.7% (95%CI: 31.3-46.0) at baseline to 19.3% (95% CI:13.6- 25.0;p=0.0001) in the surgical samples. The most frequent grade 3 AE were neutropenia (35 [57%]), leukopenia (13 [21%]), diarrhea (9 [15%]) and oral mucositis (4 [7%]). There were five grade 4 neutropenia (8%) and one grade 4 increased AST (2%), but without other SAE and death throughout the study. Conclusions: Neoadjuvant therapy with pyrotinib, letrozole and dalpiciclib yielded a pCR rate comparable to standard chemotherapy plus dual HER2 blockade in TPBC patients. The combined therapy was also well-tolerated and provided a chemo-sparing neoadjuvant approach for TPBC patients. To our knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of a chemo-free neoadjuvant treatment with HER2 TKI pyrotinib and letrozole plus CDK4/6 inhibitor dalpiciclib for TPBC patients. Further validation in a large-scale randomized controlled trial is warranted.

[Epidemiological characteristics of local COVID-19 epidemics and control experience in routine prevention and control phase in China].

The COVID-19 pandemic is still ongoing in the world, the risk of COVID-19 spread from other countries or in the country will exist for a long term in China. In the routine prevention and control phase, a number of local COVID-19 epidemics have occurred in China, most COVID-19 cases were sporadic ones, but a few case clusters or outbreaks were reported. Winter and spring were the seasons with high incidences of the epidemics; border and port cities had higher risk for outbreaks. Active surveillance in key populations was an effective way for the early detection of the epidemics. Through a series of comprehensive prevention and control measures, including mass nucleic acid screening, close contact tracing and isolation, classified management of areas and groups at risk, wider social distancing and strict travel management, the local COVID-19 epidemics have been quickly and effectively controlled. The experiences obtained in the control of the local epidemics would benefit the routine prevention and control of COVID-19 in China. The occurrence of a series of COVID-19 case clusters or outbreaks has revealed the weakness or deficiencies in the COVID-19 prevention and control in China, so this paper suggests some measures for the improvement of the future prevention and control of COVID-19.

An air quality prediction model based on deep learning and wavelet analysis considering the COVID-19 pandemic factors

Based on the air pollution data in China from January 1,2014 to December 31,2020, the characteristics of extreme value and period of air quality in different regions on different time scales were studied by using wavelet analysis. Wavelet coherence analysis was used to evaluate the relationship between air quality and meteorological factors in the period of COVID-19. We found that the spatial characteristics of air quality changed significantly in summer. Generally, air pollution is more severe in spring and winter. During the lockdown period, the overall air quality in the study area improved significantly. In general, except for 03, the concentration of all other pollutants has dropped considerably. The improvement in air quality is a direct result of emission reductions due to the implementation of the COVID-19 blockade, which is unsustainable in the long term. Eventually, a prediction model attention_CNN_LSTM based on deep learning method is proposed in this paper. The experimental results show that the attention proposed in this study the model has a good prediction effect in the long-term prediction of air quality, but the attention mechanism's impact is lower. After shortening the prediction period, the attention_CNN_LSTM model has good prediction performance on most data sets, with average MAPE = 2.67% and RMSE = 2.29.

Graphic Perception Design of Social Fear Release for College Students

Exploring the ways in which social phobic groups among university students regulate their emotions before and after the start of the school year in the post-epidemic period of COVID-19.Through the methods of literature research, questionnaire survey, interview and research, this paper analyzes the emotional fluctuation of college students before and after the beginning of school in the post-epidemic period, so as to carry out the graphic perception design of college students “social fear release, which is used to guide and induce college students with social phobia to generate positive emotions, overcome psychological barriers, and form a positive and healthy social mentality. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Atmospheric-pressure non-equilibrium plasmas for effective abatement of pathogenic biological aerosols

The COVID-19, viral influenza, tuberculosis, and other widespread infectious diseases evidence that pathogenic biological aerosols (PBAs) are a serious threat to public health. Different from traditional inactivation methods, such as ultraviolet (UV) light which are only safe to use when people are not present, and high-efficiency particulate filters (HEPA) which merely filter microbes without killing them, atmospheric pressure nonequilibrium plasma (APNP) has shown its tremendous potential in drastically diminishing the aerosol transmission route of the infectious agents through the abatement of PBAs. The key issues to develop high performance APNP based air purification system are critically reviewed. Systematic studies on the hazards of different PBAs and the spread of PBAs in indoor environments guide the development of APNP sources to control communicable diseases. The key six sampling and seven detection methods on PBAs are introduced to analyze the PBA abatement efficiency by APNP. Seven common APNP sources which can remove viruses and bacteria aerosols efficiently developed during the past 8 years are introduced. For the APNP sources with small plasma volume, the electric field and diffusion driven charging are the dominant mechanisms to charge PBAs, while the common methods of dusty plasma research can be adapted to atmospheric-pressure conditions to describe the charging effects of APNP sources with large plasma volume. Plentiful long- and short-lifetime reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS) generated by APNP effectively contribute to inactivation of bacterial aerosols. Current studies suggest that viral aerosols are mainly inactivated by short-lifetime RONS including O-1(2), ONOO- and ONOOH. The study on the dissolution and reaction of gaseous RONS in microdroplets and accurate measurements on the evolution of charged PBAs are envisaged to be the focus of future research. Opportunities for multidisciplinary collaborative research to advance the development of next-generation high-performance plasma-based air purifiers are highlighted.

Night-time Light Imagery Reveals Chinas City Activity During the COVID-19 Pandemic Period in Early 2020

The COVID-19 global pandemic has posed a serious impact on human life and health. Facing this unknown, unexpected, and devastating disease, China launched a resolute battle to prevent and control its spread. This study focused on assessing the recovery of city activity of 17 administrative regions in China around the COVID-19 pandemic period in early 2020. The night-time light (NTL) satellite remote sensing data, NPP-VIIRS dataset, was applied to evaluate the NTL changes during the coronavirus epidemic to understand the impact of the epidemic on city activity and the economy of China. A series of median composites was firstly constructed to analyze short-term NTL changes. Based on these median composites, the ratio map, difference map, wave index (WI), and recovery ratio (RR) were defined to indicate the NTL recovery pattern and its spatial distribution characteristics. The results show that: 1) the adopted median composites are able to describe the NTL changes in the short-term;2) the recovery of city activity could not be exactly described by RR of a single year but could be evaluated by the comparison of RR between two adjacent years;3) a partial and spatially heterogeneous recovery of city activity is observed after the 2020 holiday compared to 2019, 4) a better degree of recovery is observed after China announced its fully work resumption. CCBYNCND

beta-coronavirus infectious diseases: recommended strategies for the prevention and control of transmission

In recent years, the incidence and mortality of infectious diseases in China are increasing. Infectious diseases, especially new infectious diseases, seriously threaten people's lives. Recent works found that most of the emerging infectious diseases come from wild life. At the same time, the impact of human activities on the environment has further deteriorated the living environment of wildlife. However, with the conducted in-depth research on virus, human beings increase the risk of getting infected. Taking Beta Coronavirus as the example, we analyzed the transmission risks of coronavirus in the prevention and control of the outbreaks of emerging infectious diseases, and recommend the prevention and control strategies before, during and after the viral outbreak. Additional works are urgently needed to better define the biological and epidemiological characteristics of these viruses.

[Risk assessment and early warning of imported COVID-19 in Guangdong province].

Objective: To assess the imported risk of COVID-19 in Guangdong province and its cities, and conduct early warning. Methods: Data of reported COVID-19 cases and Baidu Migration Index of 21 cities in Guangdong province and other provinces of China as of February 25, 2020 were collected. The imported risk index of each city in Guangdong province were calculated, and then correlation analysis was performed between reported cases and the imported risk index to identify lag time. Finally, we classified the early warming levels of epidemic by imported risk index. Results: A total of 1 347 confirmed cases were reported in Guangdong province, and 90.0% of the cases were clustered in the Pearl River Delta region. The average daily imported risk index of Guangdong was 44.03. Among the imported risk sources of each city, the highest risk of almost all cities came from Hubei province, except for Zhanjiang from Hainan province. In addition, the neighboring provinces of Guangdong province also had a greater impact. The correlation between the imported risk index with a lag of 4 days and the daily reported cases was the strongest (correlation coefficient: 0.73). The early warning base on cumulative 4-day risk of each city showed that Dongguan, Shenzhen, Zhongshan, Guangzhou, Foshan and Huizhou have high imported risks in the next 4 days, with imported risk indexes of 38.85, 21.59, 11.67, 11.25, 6.19 and 5.92, and the highest risk still comes from Hubei province. Conclusions: Cities with a large number of migrants in Guangdong province have a higher risk of import. Hubei province and neighboring provinces in Guangdong province are the main source of the imported risk. Each city must strengthen the health management of migrants in high-risk provinces and reduce the imported risk of Guangdong province.

[Risk assessment of exported risk of COVID-19 from Hubei Province].

Objective: To evaluate the exported risk of COVID-19 from Hubei Province and the imported risk in various provinces across China. Methods: Data of reported COVID-19 cases and Baidu Migration Indexin all provinces of the country as of February 14, 2020 were collected. The correlation analysis between cumulative number of reported cases and the migration index from Hubei was performed, and the imported risks from Hubei to different provinces across China were further evaluated. Results: A total of 49 970 confirmed cases were reported nationwide, of which 37 884 were in Hubei Province. The average daily migration index from Hubei to other provinces was 312.09, Wuhan and other cities in Hubei were 117.95 and 194.16, respectively. The cumulative COVID-19 cases of provinces was positively correlated with the migration index derived from Hubei Province, also in Wuhan and other cities in Hubei, with correlation coefficients of 0.84, 0.84, and 0.81. In linear model, population migration from Hubei Province, Wuhan and other cities in Hubei account for 71.2%, 70.1%, and 66.3% of the variation, respectively. The period of high exported risk from Hubei occurred before January 27, of which the risks before January 23 mainly came from Wuhan, and then mainly from other cities in Hubei. Hunan Province, Henan Province and Guangdong Province ranked the top three in terms of cumulative imported risk (the cumulative risk indices were 58.61, 54.75 and 49.62 respectively). Conclusion: The epidemic in each province was mainly caused by the importation of Hubei Province. Taking measures such as restricting the migration of population in Hubei Province and strengthening quarantine measures for immigrants from Hubei Province may greatly reduce the risk of continued spread of the epidemic.